MC: AOTE: Fraught With Disappointment

[Grace]

((Guess I'll do Cloud's interrogation too...))

 

After what seemed like an hour of waiting, a young Imperial entered the room. Cloud looked up at him, but said nothing.

 

"Hey, I'm a little new at this interrogation stuff," the man said, his voice shaking slightly. "So... um... what's your name?"

 

"Cloud."

 

"Heya, Cloud," the man said, his hands beginning to shake. "I'm Kal... no wait... you're not supposed to care."

 

"No, that's alright," Cloud offered encouragingly. "Let's get to know one another. What's your name?"

 

"Kalron Vash," the man answered. "So, um... you're on a ship called the Echo, huh? What's that like?"

 

"Nice enough ship, I suppose," Cloud answered. "It's a little... well, more than a little banged up. Hyperdrive is decent, but everything else is pretty much trashed. Drives me nuts... I'm the engineer, by the way. Drives me nuts to see something that could be so good in such poor condition."

 

"So," Kalron Vash said, "What do you think of the crew?"

 

"You're reading these questions off a list!" Cloud observed, grinning. "Come on, Kal... you don't mind if I call you Kal, do you? You've gotta be more creative than that."

 

"Well, how do I, then?" Vash demanded, exasperated. Cloud grinned, and for the next hour, he gave Kalron Vash lessons in the 'art of interrogation'.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

"There," Reibe said pleasantly, removing her hands from Jana's head. "Now, I know everything you know."

 

"Doesn't that fall under the category of information overload?" Jana wondered. Reibe laughed.

 

"Perhaps for you," she conceded, "but I'm a freak of nature, remember?"

 

At that moment, a tone sounded, indicating that someone wanted into the room. Reibe's eyes went wide. "Oh dear... quick, Jana. Drop your head to the table and start whimpering... oh, and shaking too."

 

"But I..." Jana began. Reibe glared.

 

"Just do it!" she hissed. Jana obeyed and Reibe rose to open the door.

 

"I'm sorry to intrude, Lady Vailar," the man on the other side said cautiously. "But Captain Raikeeli wants to have a word with you."

 

"Several words, I imagine," Reibe said shortly, her voice gone cold. From where she sat, quaking and whimpering, Jana thought to herself that this must be the Reibe everyone else in the galaxy was familiar with. The officer facing Reibe glanced over her head, saw Jana, and shuddered.

 

"You're finished with her, then?" he asked. Reibe nodded.

 

"Quite so," she agreed. "Call the guards to take her back to the cell. I guess it's time for Raikeeli to have his words..."

 

She strode off down the corridor toward the captain's office.

[JasraLantill]

“Are we there yet?” Beryl asked her guards as they descended down in the elevator for what seemed like a full minute. She had been pretending to be coming out of her ‘anaesthesia’ that Conn supposedly given her, but couldn’t resist the opportunity to make a sarcastic comment.

 

“Shut up,” was their reply in unison, and then she received a yank on her arm from what she perceived as the younger of the two, but as she was still looking down at the ground, neither of them noticed the smirk on Beryl’s face.

 

Finally, the elevator stopped and the door opened into what looked like another processing station manned by two Stormtroopers and one guard wearing a gray uniform--an officer, Beryl guessed.

 

“Hey, didn’t we do ‘processing’ already?” Beryl complained, no longer caring if she appeared less groggy than expected.

 

“Shut. Up,” the more senior guard said to her. He held out an ident chip to the officer, who scanned it into a computer, and then scanned her arm where she had received her implanted ID chip at the other processing station.

 

“21790,” he addressed her as he approached her, holding a binder key in his hand. “You will proceed through to the lift and then to cell 8142.”

 

Beryl cocked an eyebrow. “By myself?” she asked. “Without…,” she looked at her two escorts in turn, “my babysitters?”

 

The guard paused, then grinned, then unlocked her binders. “I don’t get paid enough to be an escort to where you’re going,” he said snidely. He pressed a button on a nearby console and the door to her right slid open to reveal another elevator, only this one was more like a metal-barred cage. He nodded at her to step into it.

 

Beryl looked around. With four stormtroopers, an officer, and several cameras placed all around the room, there was really no point in arguing or resisting. Slowly, she stepped forward into the cage.

 

The door abruptly shut behind her, and then the cage lurched before being slowly lowered into…

 

“Oh, you have got to be kidding,” Beryl said out loud to herself, as she was lowered into what could only be called a dim, sweaty, pit of despair. Catcalls echoed through the caverns as she descended among her fellow prisoners—a scruffy-looking collection of desperate looking men, women, and aliens. Finally, the cage stopped at what Beryl determined could be a half-way point.

 

“Step out and proceed to cell 8142,” a voice instructed over the loudspeaker at the top of the cage.

 

Beryl looked warily around, taking a moment to have her eyes adjust to the light before stepping out. There were two prisoners wearing red armbands to standing in front of her—some sort of overseers here to greet the newbie, Beryl reckoned. The one with the large scar across his face beckoned her forward and she obediently stepped out of the cage.

 

“Name’s Time,” the man said to her, as the cage door shut and began its ascent. Time then pointed to his armband. “This means that I’m a Trustee. And it means that you can’t do anything or go anyplace without my permission. Got it?”

 

Beryl eyed him and his ‘colleague’ over. Neither one of them had any visible weapons, but she sensed that they were a bit too confident not to have any. And even if she didn’t feel either one of them were trustworthy, now was not the time to start up a fight. Better to see how things were organised in this cesspit first, she thought.

 

She nodded compliantly, and was perfectly content to just go with them wherever they were going to lead her, but when the second Trustee came up behind her and tried to touch her, she reacted quickly, grabbing his arm in a hold and twisting it back behind him. “Hands off!” she hissed, and then just as quickly as she had pinned him, she let him go. “I don’t care if you’re the kriffin’ Emperor’s personal guard,” she said to him, giving him stare that would freeze lava. “No one touches me without my permission. Got it?”

 

Beryl eyed each of the Trustee’s in turn, and then stared at the one who called himself ‘Time’. “Well?” she said. “Are you going to show me where cell 8142 is or not?”

 

Time laughed. “Ah, you’re one of those politicals, aren’t you?”

 

“A what?”

 

“A political prisoner. One of those ‘Rebels’ the Empire is always on about.”

 

“No, I’m a smuggler and blockade runner, actually.”

 

“Same difference,” Time said dismissively. He let out an amused snort. “This way.”

[stingerhs]

((hehe, guess its my turn...))

 

Ryshana slowly started to wake up. Rubbing her face with her hands, Ryshana tried to concentrate to get the grogginess out of her head, but nothing happened. A bit alarmed, Ryshana snapped awake. Trying to use the Force in any way possible, Ryshana breathed in deeply to relax. It would only make sense for a Jedi Facility to use some method to "shut off" the Force from the prisoners. That's when she noticed something: she wasn't under any restraints. Trying to sit up, she winced in pain from a general soreness across her body.

 

That's when she remembered the collar that she had been fitted with earlier. Reaching around her neck, Ryshana felt nothing more than her own skin until she brushed against something metallic at the very back of her neck. Feeling around it, she felt a metallic shaft extending outwards from the base of her neck into some sort of a wire. A bit shocked to feel such a device surgically plugged into her, Ryshana decided that the best thing for her to do would be to lay back down.

 

That's when she finally started to study the room. It was fairly well lit, and it seemed to have quite a sterile feel to it. Everything was a white color, and the room radiated brightly. Looking over to her right, she caught sight of a computer monitor. After studying it briefly, she realized that it was monitoring her life signs. Somewhat curious, she studied it closer and caught sight of most of the major indicators. Then she noticed several unusual indicators with one labeled as "FSN" and the other labeled "Control Level".

 

"Ahh, you're awake. Good," a voice suddenly stated over an intercom. A bit startled initially, Ryshana instinctively looked around the room for the source of the voice. "You can get up and move about if you wish. Just be careful of the monitor wire that's hooked up to the back of your head. A doctor will be with you shortly."

 

Somewhat relieved that she could actually move about, Ryshana slowly and carefully got up while doing her best to not yank on the wire. Finally sitting up, she rotated around so that she was on the edge of the bed. She was dressed in nothing but a basic white hospital gown, but it covered the necessary parts adequately.

 

Then, a door opened just opposite of her, and three men stepped into the room. The first man was wearing a nametag that read, "Robinson Twerna, MD". Studying him for the first time, Ryshana noticed that he was somewhat tall, and he had a built frame. "Miss Ryshana its good to see that your awake. My name is Doctor Twerna," the first man stated as he held out his hand for Ryshana to shake.

 

Looking at him curiously for a moment, Ryshana then took his hand and shook it. "Good, now that we're on friendly terms, I'd like to perform a quick checkup on you to see how Doc Conn did on you," Twerna stated as he started to look her over.

 

"Wait, so if you guys tortured me however long ago, why are you suddenly concerned with my health?" Ryshana asked.

 

"Oh, that had nothing to do with me. Honest. If I had it my way, that Colonel ought to be hooked by his toes and hung from the rafters in the Prisoner Commons," he replied as he moved away part of the gown to get a look at her bandages.

 

Puzzled, she then asked, "Is it because your a medical doctor, an idealist, or you're just trying to get on my good side?"

 

As he resecured the bandages, he replied, "Actually, its a combination of all three. You see, I *am* a doctor, but I'm also a firm believer in keeping the patient as comfortable as possible. I guess the last part makes me sort of an idealist, but that only goes so far seeing that nobody would go to a Doctor if things were truly "ideal"."

 

Moving around the table, he checked the device that was plugged into her head. "Hang on for just a second as this might hurt just a bit," he said. Then, a sudden empty feeling came over her head for just a moment. Shaking her head, Ryshana felt normal again. "Okay, that's done. Do you feel queasy or anything?" he asked.

 

"I did for a moment, but I'm fine now," Ryshana responded.

 

"Good. Okay, let me explain what's going on. You are now under my care and supervision. This isn't what I would call a prison, but to you, it might as well be since you can't come and go just anywhere at anytime. This facility is privately owned, but you are still under Imperial jurisdiction. As such, if you cause any problems, you will be dealt with first by my security forces and then turned over to the Imperials, but I don't think you'll have much trouble following the rules.

 

The rules are as follows: be at your scheduled appointments on time and don't cause problems with the other patients. Otherwise, you're pretty much free to go anywhere in this facility that isn't labeled "Authorized Personnel Only", and that includes a cafeteria, the rec rooom, the living area, and the hobby room. If you have questions about the various rooms, just find a nurse, and they'll direct you as best they can. Any questions?"

 

After thinking for just a moment, Ryshana wondered exactly what kind of a "prison" this place was. This place sounded a lot more like a real hospital than anything. However, there was this one nagging question...

 

"Why can't I feel the Force in this place. I feel like I'm just completely shut off," Ryshana stated.

 

Without missing a beat, Twerna replied, "That's due to the ysalimiri placed in every individual room. For the things that we do at this hospital, we need to control whether or not a person has access to the Force or not. For now, you won't be allowed that "luxury" until you can prove your loyalty."

 

"My loyalty?? My loyalty to whom??" Ryshana asked.

 

"Well, its not your loyalty to the Empire; I can assure you that much. I didn't like the agreement that I had to set up, but it works. You see, I've always been a Jedi sympathizer, and this facility is my way of trying to make it as comfortable as possible for those that had at one time performed a great service to the galaxy. The loyalty that I'm watching for is no more than your loyalty to myself and the rest of the staff here, and believe me when I tell you that your loyalty to me will be much easier for the taking than the Empire," Twerna replied.

 

"Believe me, it will be much easier," he stated as he gave her a smile. Looking over at him, Ryshana finally felt for the first time that someone was truly being honest to her.

[Grace]

"No, you can't be a wimp," Cloud objected. "Kal, you have to remember, you are in charge here. The prisoners are in binders, tied down to the chair they sit in. You have freedom to move. Now stop being a wimp and hit me!"

 

Kalron Vash made a move to smack Cloud's cheek, but it was so weak that Cloud didn't even flinch. He scoffed.

 

"You call that a hit?" he demanded. Raising his voice, he screamed, "Hit me, hit me, hit me, hit me!"

 

All the while, the young Imperial was trying to say, "I can't!" but all he managed was, "I... I... I..." Finally, a flicker of annoyance crossed his face and he backhanded Cloud's left cheek. Falling into silence, Cloud leaned back in his chair, a little surprised the boy across from him had actually followed through.

 

"Did I... did I hurt you?" Vash wondered hesitantly. Cloud glared at him.

 

"You're not supposed to care!" he screamed. Settling a little, he shook his head. "I'm a prisoner. You do whatever it takes to get information out of me... and you don't care for my well being. That is an Imperial interrogator." He snorted. "I'm surprised they wanted you to do interrogations."

 

Vash puffed up indignantly. "I passed the tests!"

 

"The tests are karked," Cloud retorted. "All screwed up so anyone can beat them. It's in a little room like this where you really prove you can do it. So prove it!"

 

"But what about you?" Vash wondered.

 

"Forget me as a person!" Cloud exclaimed. "To you, I am an animal. Nothing more than a beast, restrained so I don't rip you to pieces. I have information you want. Treat me like the beast I am to get that information from me."

 

Without warning, Vash rose, circled the desk, and kicked Cloud's chair over. Cloud grunted. Then, he grinned.

 

"That's more like it," he approved. "Now ask me questions."

 

"Name!" Vash barked.

 

"If you have my crew, you know my name," Cloud snapped back. At that moment, Cloud knew his training of Vash was complete... and Vash was not at all the sort of man Cloud expected to be hiding behind the timidity he first displayed. With a roar of irritation, he physically lifted Cloud and his chair and hurled him against the wall. The chair shattered and Cloud fell to the ground.

 

"Stop playing games with me!" Vash roared. "Name!"

 

"Cloud."

 

Seeming satisfied, Vash returned to his chair. "You are an engineer."

 

"Yup."

 

Again, Vash nodded. "Tell me about your crew."

 

"I don't know them, really," Cloud mumbled. "I'm just the engineer/mechanic. They break something, I fix it. We don't talk much. I ask the first officer for new parts. She talks to the captain. It's the only way I get what I need."

 

"Captain won't talk to you, then?" Vash wondered. Cloud scowled.

 

"Not really, no," he agreed. After a few more questions and one more physical outburst, Vash grinned at Cloud.

 

"Thanks for the training," he said. "We're done. Now, you'll be taken back to your cell." He shuddered faintly. "Oh, and sorry for what was done to your first officer. I'm afraid she'll never recover."

 

Cloud tensed. "What did they do to her?"

 

"It's nothing we ordinarily do," Vash explained apologetically. "But... well, we have this interrogator/captain's adviser aboard. Sent straight from the Emperor, we've been told. But she's got some pretty frightening methods. We... well, we turn off all recording devices while she's interrogating. The result is always the same... they come out of the room, looking like they've just lived through their worst nightmare... and they never talk sense again."

 

With that explanation, he hurried out of the room. Seconds later, guards came to take Cloud back to the cell. There, he found Jana in a corner, shaking and whining, her eyes vacant.

 

"Jana!" he exclaimed, rushing over to her the second his hands were unbound. "Oh, Force! Jana, what did they do to you?"

 

Without warning, Jana lurched forward, springing to her feet and spinning Cloud around, slamming him against the wall. With her face away from the camera now, her eyes focused on him and she winked. I'm alright, she mouthed. It's an act. Throw me off you.

 

With a sorrowful expression, Cloud did as she'd ordered and she went flying back, connecting first with the containment shield and bouncing off that to the ground. Then, she scrambled back to the corner and began quaking and whimpering once more.

[starmark2k]

When Reibe reached Captain Raikellii's office, she didn't bother with knocking; she never bothered with knocking. As usual, she simply entered the office and sat down across the desk from Raikellii and said, "I hear you wanted to see me."

 

Captain Raikellii was sat at his desk looking at a Small handheld holo-Vid, it was of a young women wearing an elegant dress of noble from Naboo. On noticing The entrance of Reibe he flicked his eyes up and switched off the vid.

 

“Yes, we have a level one priority Prisoner on board, I wish for you to use your unique brand of torture on him.” The captain requested.

 

Reibe arched a single eyebrow. "Level one, eh?" She sounded incredibly disinterested. "Joy of joys. What'd he do?"

 

“It's Not necessary for you too know that, you don't have to ask questions, just hurt him!" Kriss Replied with a sinister tone in his voice.

 

Reibe laughed. "Ah!" she exclaimed. "So you've found him, have you? Your best brother, Simon..."

 

Kriss frowned at the Imperial’s VIP he knew she had abilities beyond that of normal sentient but he was never told what they actually were. “And how would you that?”

 

Reibe smirked. "You'd love to know, wouldn't you." She shook her head. "Sure, I'll take a crack at him. I'll also want a little further time with his first officer."

 

“And how will hat help, She is nothing more than a shell you made her?” Kriss asked

 

Reibe chuckled. "Let me let you in on a little secret," she said. "I've met this crew before. I helped them escape Vader once. If I want them to act a certain way, they will." She shook her head. "Jana's mind is fully intact. I want to have a chat with her... relive old times and whatnot. I was her caretaker once upon a time... and instructed her at the TCTA, too."

 

She noticed Raikeeli's puzzled

 

look and grinned. "Yet another mystery about me you'll never understand."

 

“Well, If that’s the case, I will allow it.” Raikellii responded. “Make sure you keep Simons brain intact I have something special for him.”

 

Reibe smirked. "Oh, that sounds naughty," she said. "He'll be fully intact. And he'll have suffered. Don't you worry about that."

 

"Hmmm, Make sure he does." Kriss smirked. "That is all."

 

Reibe nodded and rose to go. "A pleasure as always, Kriss." She was one of the few aboard who dared to call him by his first name. The door slid shut behind her, leaving the Captain alone to view the holo-vid.

--------------------------------------------------

 

Nics hands were shackled to the metal wall of Interrogation room 1, all the clothes on the top half of his body had been removed. The officer stood in front of him holding a modified stun baton in his hand, Instead of stunning the target it would release a shock of energy that would cause extream amounts of pain.

 

“What is your name?” The officer asked.

 

“Darth Vader.” Nic replied out of breath. “and I order you to release me.”

 

The Officer started to laugh for a few seconds and then jammed the baton into Nic’s gut, Nic screamed out as the officer pushed the Stun baton for a further few seconds.

 

“How many more times must I do before you give this up.” The officer asked calmly.

 

“I don’t know how to give up.” Nic replied again still out of breath only to have the Baton stabbed against his chest again. His screams could be heard all over the Detention level.

[Grace]

After another second with the stun baton, the officer laughed and switched the device off. "You think you can handle torture," he scoffed. "Wait 'till the Monster comes for you. I hear she's on her way..."

 

Nic coughed and began to laugh. "Oh, big bad Imperial can't handle this so he's getting a woman to do his dirty work."

 

The officer expression changed and he swung the deactivated stun baton around to hit him on the side of his face. Nic spit out some blood and looked back at the Imperial. "Hit a nerve did I?" Nic grinned.

 

The officer raised the baton to strike Nic once more, but as he swung his arm back, the device slipped from his grasp, flying backward to land in Reibe's hand. "Now, now," she scolded. "We don't want him too physically beat up before I get to him, now do we?"

 

The officer paled. "I apologize Lady Vailar," he stammered quickly. She nodded.

 

"Off you go," she ordered and the officer hurried out. Reibe turned to Nic and smiled cheerfully. "Nice to see you again."

 

So killing me wasn't good enough." Nic grinned looking at Reibe while nodding his head down to his lightsabre scar. "Now you're going to torture me."

 

Reibe laughed and shook her head. "Not really," she answered. "The people who torture their prisoners are only those that are so weak they can't get information any other way."

 

Her smile was almost reassuring in an odd way. "Kriss wants me to hurt you. I just want to know what's gone through your mind since we last met. And I always get what I want around here..."

 

It doesn't surprise me," Nic laughed "Hell, i deserve it."

 

Reibe frowned sternly. "Both you and your brother think you deserve to die and go to all the hells of every system, species, and religion of the galaxy," she observed. "I hold a different opinion. Simon, you made a mistake... genuine human error. What happened was your fault, it's true, but to forever be killing yourself over it is counterproductive."

 

"And what do you know!" Nic shouted angry. "I kept my end of the bargain, I kept my eye on Jana for all these years for you, and I still have not gained what you promised me."

 

"Every single day I remember it, every single day I am tortured by the memory... I deserve anything the Empire can throw at me... but in protecting Jana I've not taken my punishment."

 

"I never promised your memories would erase themselves," Reibe said calmly. "I never told you that you would eventually be satisfied to forget what happened. I promised you retribution, something 'good', if you will, that you could do. Perhaps, you could have made peace with yourself. But you refuse to make peace with yourself, despite how well you've cared for Jana. You refuse to let the past be what it is. Simon, you are living in the past, but the past has left without you. That is why you cannot find your desired 'peace'. You won't let yourself."

 

"Simon's dead," Nic replied looking down. "C'mon, do your worst. They'll get worried if I don't start screaming."

 

"They don't care what kind of sounds come out of the rooms I enter," Reibe said dismissively. "And as many times as you want to say Simon is dead, you still live with his actions, Nic. In other words, Simon is not dead until you let his actions live in the past, where they happened."

 

"If I wanted a shrink I would have booked myself into a psych ward," Nic said. "What do you want, Reibe?"

 

"Normally, they'd just let me turn you into a human shell," she answered. "However, I have no intention of doing that. And unfortunately for you, it sounds as if Kriss has something else planned for you as well. Hold still, this will just take a moment."

 

She reached out to place her hands on either side of Nic's head, just as she had done with Jana. Nic pulled back as Reibe's hands got closer to his face until his head hit the wall behind it. "What are you doing?"

 

"It's one phase of my typical interrogation procedure," Reibe answered patiently, withdrawing her hands for a moment. "There's no better way to extract information than from the place it exists. You'll hardly feel a thing... just a mild headache."

 

"We both know Kriss doesn't care what's in my head." Nic informed. "He just wants you to hurt me."

 

"You'd be surprised of often Kriss doesn't get his way where I'm involved," Reibe said. "And if you don't sit forward and let me take your memory like a good little boy, I will hold you forward... that would hurt a little more than just the mild headache... a good deal more, actually."

 

"I ain't letting you in my head, so give it up." Nic replied. "You want to know something, you ask."

 

"That's how normal people do things," Reibe commented dryly. "Given the fact that I killed you once, you should have figured out by now that I'm hardly normal."

 

Without warning and against his will, Nic's arms spread away from his body and he felt himself lifted off the ground by some invisible force. "Kriss wanted you in pain," Reibe murmured. "Well, here's some pain."

 

Nic's arms and legs began to feel as if they were being stretched beyond their reach. Slowly, it got harder to breathe. Then, he began to rotate forward, his unwilling head landing in Reibe's hands. "Since you are unwilling," she said softly, "this will hurt more than a little. You will have the worst headache within your memory by the time I'm finished."

 

"You've obviously never downed 5 Trandoshan Vodkas." Nic replied defiantly.

 

"I've downed twelve in a row and not been even slightly buzzed," Reibe answered. "A curse of my genetics, I'll never know what it feels like to be drunk."

 

And she slid smoothly into Nic's mind. There, in his consciousness, the battle truly began, for in his mind, both Simon Raikeeli and Nic white stood against her. And both of them had full freedom of movement and any weapons they could imagine in their arsenal. But still, they had no idea who they were dealing with...

[steven]

Jack sat on the bench on his prison cell, a different one from his previous cell with the others. His tortured was to be scheled in an hours time, not something Jack wanted to stick around for. He needed a chance to escape, to save the others. He ratteled for an answer but he was drawing blanks. Usually in these situations he had someone on the outside, but not this time. He just hoped the other's were having better luck.

 

((Btw, SM, do you have a plan on how the Echo crew are going to escape?))

[JasraLantill]

Beryl was ‘escorted’ by the two Trustees through a maze of cave-like corridors that had primitive metal-barred cells on either side, although they looked to Beryl more like blast holes with dura-steel grates set in them. And some of the ‘grates’ didn’t even have locks installed.

 

Each cell had two sets of bunk beds set on opposite sides of the cell walls, most had something that looked like it might have been a refresher in the distant past, and some had a couple of footlockers. A few of them were ‘decorated’ with odd bits and pieces—the occasional bedspread, a rug, some holo-pics, and even the rare bit of printed pictures or painted graffiti. All of the cells were occupied to some extent, and most all of them had their doors wide open. Overall, Beryl’s first impression of the ‘cell level’ she was on was one of mildly controlled anarchy.

 

Every once in a while, the corridor would weave back out to circle the main shaft. From the downward pointing spotlights of the control station high above, Beryl could see glimpses of the upper levels of the prison block, and even some of the cells that had views of the main shaft--‘the condos’ the Trustee named ‘Time’ had called them. The upper cells appeared to be larger, definitely more airy, and although they still appeared to have the standard issue military-style double bunk beds, they also looked like they had working refreshers. It didn’t take Beryl long to figure out that the higher the level, the more luxuries were available.

 

“Well, here we are,” said Time as he stopped in front of a cell. “8143. Strunk, Nitt,” he addressed the cell’s current residents, “meet your new roommate.”

 

Beryl peeked around Time’s bulky frame and looked into the cell. Two haggard and dirty men, if you could call them that, were rising from their bunks, leering at Beryl with animal intensity as one scratched and pulled at his unkempt beard, and the other rubbed a grubby finger across yellow, rotting teeth. Without expression, Beryl looked at Time.

 

“You’re joking, right?”

 

Time bellowed out a laugh.

 

Beryl was not amused. “Forgetting for a moment that those two ‘things’ in there are barely human, you can’t ignore the fact that they are, or at least appear to be, males. And the last time I checked, the Empire had pretty strict protocol against fraternization--for employees, officers, and prisoners.”

 

“Oh, really?” Time said, blatantly sarcastic. “Well, the Imps don’t come down here all that often to give us any ‘protocol’ guidelines,” he told her. “But, there are always other ‘options’ to improve your living quarters.”

 

Beryl glanced over at the two idiots that were now drooling in the doorway to their abode. “What sort of ‘options?’”

[steven]

"Owi, dirtbags, throw the new gal in 'ere. The bunk above me is free. I'm sure tweedle dee and tweedle dump wouldn't mind..." Came a rough female voice from a couple of cell on the right of Beryl "Also if you do get an Imperial inspection, there'd be one less charges to your execution."

 

"What's the surposed to mean!?" Asked the Time

 

"Well Debb didn't pregnant on her own ,T," The women accused "And I'm sure she didn't jump out of the airlock by herself either."

 

"Shut up or you'll be next," Said one of the officers.

[JasraLantill]

Beryl raised a single eyebrow at Time. "You throw pregnant women out airlocks?"

 

Time snapped his head in her direction and glared at her. "Sam don't know nothin' about nothin', understand?!" he said, heatedly pointing his thick finger in Beryl's face. "She's crazy!"

 

Beryl cast a quick glance at the two drooling idiots in Cell 8142. "And they're not?"

 

Time's angry scowl morphed into a confused frown. "Okay, I see your point." His scowl returned. "But you see my point, don't you? You go poking your nose into other people's business and things 'happen.' Unpleasant things."

 

"Hey, I'm a smuggler, not a busibody," Beryl answered cooly. She looked around the bulk of Time and into the cell where the woman called 'Sam' had called from. It still wasn't in any way, shape, or form a place that Beryl would want to stay for any length of time, but it looked semi-habitable. And it had what appeared to be a working refresher--a definite 'plus' in Beryl's book. "So... how crazy is this 'Sam' person?" she asked quietly.

 

Time responded with a ominiously evil chuckle. "Well, she won't slit your throat in the middle of the night, but beyond that I couldn't say."

 

Beryl nodded. She didn't have any money, so there wasn't much choice at the moment. As soon as she got her bearings, she'd be able to 'move up in the ranks' so to speak.

 

"So, how much is it going to cost me to be 'reassigned' to a different cell?" Beryl asked Time.

 

Time grinned. "Yeah, you'll do just fine here," he muttered to himself. "This time? Nothin'. Just keep your mouth shut."

 

"My lips are sealed."

 

Time pushed the two droolers back into their cell. "Sorry, boys. Maybe next time." Then he beckoned for Beryl to proceed to the cell where 'Sam' was waiting in the open doorway.

 

"You win, Sam," Time said, scowling at her. He looked at Beryl. "But I think 21790 is going to give you a run for your money. She's no pushover."

 

He and the other Trustee left then, leaving Beryl to settle into her new abode.

 

"So, you're Sam?" Beryl asked the woman. "I'm Beryl." She pointed to one of the bunks. "Which one is free?"

[steven]

"The one in the bottem right," Sam said as she sat down on the bunk opposite her "So what you in here for? Smuggling related I guess."

[JasraLantill]

"I don't know what I'm in for," Beryl replied to Sam, as she plopped herself down on the bunk. She sighed. "I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and unfortunately was carrying a passenger with an Imperial bounty on her head."

 

Beryl snorted. It was strange, being here on purpose while everyone around you was here by force. Not under any immediate threat herself now, she was beginning to worry about her friend. She really hoped that Conn had helped Ryshana. Beryl was certain that something horrible had happened to her, and although Beryl sensed that she was still alive, she wondered in what kind of condition her friend was in. She didn't think it would be a pleasant one, and she was probably housed in much worse conditions than the place Beryl was.

 

She decided that now was a good time to try and reconnect to the Force that she had cut herself off from so abruptly while in the med bay. And, later, when she got a quiet moment alone, she would try to use the Force to sense out her Jedi friend.

 

"So, why are you here, Sam?" Beryl asked conversationally, as she slowly and cautiously began to extend her feelings outward with the Force. She wanted to see if she could sense any intents to deceive on Sam's part, something that Ryshana had told her that she had a 'natural ability' for, but just needed more focus to control. Beryl didn't want to be conned by anyone, especially someone she was going to be sharing a 'room' with, so now was the perfect time to practice.

[Rogue Nine]

Conn quickly delved into his terminal and erased all traces of his test on Beryl's blood sample. On a whim, he'd run a series of tests on it, just to sate his curiosity. The battery of tests had included a midichlorian sweep and it was the set of results from that particular test that had Conn so surprised and worried. At first he'd thought the computer had glitched somehow, but after running it through several more times and coming up with the same results, Conn was forced to accept it. But how the hell does Beryl have a midichlorian count that rivals that of Jedi? he thought as he keyed in the last few commands. His screen beeped, indicating the purge had finished.

 

He leaned back and rubbed his eyes as he put two and two together. Beryl and the Twi'lek Jedi had come together on the same bounty hunter ship. It didn't take a genius to figure that she and the Jedi knew each other, given Beryl's Force-Sensitivity. It was far too much of a coincidence. The pain that Conn had felt wash off of Beryl during his treatment of her was probably a result of her connection to the Jedi as the Twi'lek was being tortured by the Imperials. No wonder she didn't want to tell me; she didn't want to run the risk of being discovered. He sighed mightily. There was no helping it now; he'd have to get in contact with her somehow. If the Imperials found out that she was Force Sensitive, there was no telling what they'd do to her. Seeing Beryl had jolted him from his ennui as an Imperial doctor, causing him to remember all the good times that they had had during their tenures at Incom. Her revelation that she'd broken their relationship off because she was afraid that she'd cause his death touched a nerve with him, especially since he'd really cared for her. Now that she was back in his life, there was no way he'd let harm come to her. Every part of his being: the doctor, the friend, the lover would not allow it.

 

As he got up to pace about to help him think up a plan, the doors to his med bay opened again. Taken slightly aback, Conn watched as another prisoner walked in, escorted by a stormtrooper. "Well Maxx, this is certainly a pleasant surprise," he said, addressing the inmate.

 

Maxxenandra Coronis, known to those close to her as Maxx, sidled up to Conn, data clipboard in hand. "Pleasure is all mine, Doctor," she replied, her voice melodious. She handed Conn the clipboard. "Need you to sign the prison block checklist. You know the drill."

 

"Ah, I see. So this visit is really business, not pleasure," he replied, taking the clipboard from her as he sized her up. Maxx was certainly one of the more interesting inmates at the prison facility. A Lorrdian, she was slight of frame, with a comely and expressive appearance. Her graceful movements belied her well-to-do background and her quiet voice contrasted greatly with the rest of the prison populace. Maxx had a temper, however, and it had landed her here. When an Imperial patrol had threatened her family's space outpost, she had taken a Z-95 Headhunter and defended her family tooth and nail, downing 6 TIE Fighters singlehandedly before being subdued. When they had taken her captive, she was offered a choice, to either come with the Imperials or have her family annihilated before her eyes. She had, of course, taken the former option. They had tried to recruit her into the Imperial piloting program, but she would have none of it, telling them to either kill her or set her free. Not willing to acquiesce to a stubborn captive, they'd sent her to the prison facility to serve out her sentence. She'd quickly moved up the ranks to the level of Trustee with her levelheadedness and street smarts. Conn couldn't help but wonder why she was still around, since it was obvious that someone with her skills could easily find a way out.

 

He signed the clipboard after scanning the manifest briefly. "There you go," he said, handing it back to her. "Don't work too hard, Maxx."

 

She snorted lightly. "As if." She glanced at the clipboard, then back at Conn. "I hear we got a new prisoner today," she said. "She a handful?"

 

Conn froze momentarily. Maxx was a good person, but she was still a Trustee and he wasn't quite sure if he could trust her completely. "Yeah, you could say that," he replied evenly. "Bounty hunters were rough to her; had to patch more than a few things up."

 

"Sure, I hear ya," Maxx replied with a surreptitious glance at her stormtrooper escort who, despite being hidden by a mask, seemed blissfully oblivious to their conversation. "I'll look for her, get her acquainted to our lovely accomodations properly."

 

Conn breathed a small sigh of relief. "Yeah, do that. Don't want her too roughed up for next week's checkup."

 

Maxx gave him a crooked grin. "You're way too good to be an Imp, Conn."

 

He returned the smile. "Could say the same for you." He shooed her away with one hand. "Now go, before your buckethead gets too bored."

 

The stormtrooper tightened the grip on his blaster rifle, but said nothing. Maxx smirked, then turned and walked to the door, the trooper at her heels. "Later Doc," she said, waving as she exited.

[steven]

"Well some Imperial went behind his master's back and did illegal experiments. I was a subject for those experiments, and for that I was thrown in here," It was then Sam got a strang feeling from Beryl "What are you doing?"

[JasraLantill]

Beryl looked at Sam askance. "What am I doing?" she repeated. "I'm talking to you, that's what I'm doing." Beryl thought, was this one a Force Sensitive like she was? She didn't think so, otherwise why would Sam still be here? Wouldn't she have found a way to escape by now?

 

"So... an experiment, huh?" Beryl asked, leaning back with her hands tucked behind her neck so she could recline on the bed. "What kind of experiment? What did they do to you?"

[steven]

"It's a long story, one of which I don't really know you that well to tell you, let's just say there's more to me than meets the eye," Sam replied with a grin on her face, before leaning back "So you leaving anyone special on the outside?"

[JasraLantill]

"Special?" Beryl thought a moment. "Depends on what you mean by 'special?'" She closed her eyes. "I mean, I've got my mother, my brothers, a sister-in-law, (although I would hardly consider her 'special' by any means,) two nephews...." She paused, thinking about Nic, Cloud, Jana, Jack and Oliver, and especially, Ryshana, although being as she was a prisoner herself, she really didn't fit the 'outside' criteria of Sam's original query. "Friends," she continued. "So, yeah. I guess you could say I left lots of special people behind on the outside."

 

Beryl let out a quick sigh. She hadn't sensed any sort of intent to harm from Sam yet, so she let herself relax a little bit and just allowed the Force to flow through her. Now she knew what Ryshana had been trying to teach her about finding the 'calm' of the Force. It was calming to reach out and feel its power surround her like a warm blanket, to feel connected and aware of the living beings around her, to feel like an active part of the living Universe without being overwhelmed by its enormity.

 

She shifted in the bunk, getting more comfortable. "So, Sam, who runs this joint? And don't tell me the Imps. I mean, who really runs this place? I saw the upper-level 'condos', as Time called them, on my way down here, and they hardly seemed Imperial 'regulation' anything."

 

Beryl cracked an eye open. "Who do the Trustees really work for?"

[steven]

"You know what I mean by special," Replied Sam "Oh yeah, I'm not sure what guy's name is, I think it's Davik something, we just call him the 'Big Cheese'."

[JasraLantill]

"The Big Cheese?" Beryl abruptly opened her eyes, then snorted with amusement. "Well, suppose I shouldn't be surprised that he's called after a foodstuff, being that he's no doubt one of those 'service industry' types, eh?"

 

Blackmarket food rations, prostitution, gambling, illegal entertainment..., Beryl thought. Yup... all very desired and profitable services in a hell-hole like this place.

 

Beryl sat up and looked quizzically at Sam. "Special. So you mean 'special' in the sense of a boyfriend/husband?" She let out a small chuckle and shook her head. "Then the answer is 'no'. No one special on the outside."

[steven]

"Accutally we call him the big cheese is because he's fat, oh and be carefull if he ever calls you into his office, there's a chance your going to get a telling off or..." Sam paused, thinking how to phrase her sentance "have of fun game of electric roulette. If he ever does anything other than that to you, tell me. Me and the Big Cheese have an... understanding."

[JasraLantill]

Beryl nodded with interest. "Really? That's good to know." She was quiet for a moment, again feeling out with the Force to see if she could detect any sort of intentional deception on Sam's part. There was none.

 

"Say, Sam, you think you could introduce me to him?" She grinned. "I don't think I have any plans for tomorrow. Unless, there's some sort of work detail that the Imps have everyone on. Last I checked, they were heavily into 'unpaid' labour."

[steven]

"Sure thing but will have to be tomorrow, we have "light's out" in half an hour." Sam warned "You'll have to watch yourself then. Remember the guys you saw in the first cell, well they took a liking to you and every midnight, for one minute the power goes out and sometimes so does the forcefield in the prison. However if that does happen I'll try and protect you, and if I fail we have Ice in the bunk above you."

[JasraLantill]

Beryl looked up at the the bunk above her. Ice, she reckoned, was another roommate. And since it was 'lights out' soon, Beryl would probably be meeting her soon.

 

"Ach, I'm not worried about those guys, Sam," Beryl said. "I can take care of myself." She snorted. "I just don't want them breathing on me. Might catch something...contagious."

 

She yawned. Lights out definitely seemed like a good idea to her at the moment.

 

Just then two women came walking into the cavern-like cell. One was an albino, with completely white hair, very pale skin, nearly white irises, and she was about the same height as Beryl. The other, shorter in stature, had long wavy mousey-brown hair, brown eyes, and sporting a 'look' that could rival Jana's. Beryl bit back the urge to grin.

 

"Who's this?" the Jana-like one asked Sam. "A new roomie?"

[steven]

"Yep, ladies say hello to Beryl." Sam said lying on the bed "Beryle, Ice is the gal who'll be sleeping above you and her friend there is sleeping next door. Guess who is sleeping above me? You'll never get it."

[JasraLantill]

"If you say, Time, I'm outta here, Sam," Beryl said half-joking. She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bunk. "So... which one of you is Ice?" she asked, facing the two newcomers.

 

The mousey-brunette snorted, then looked at her friend. "Well, it's sure the hell not me," she said cynically. She patted her albino friend on the shoulder. "Catch you later."

 

"Yeah," Ice replied. "See 'ya, Biz."

 

As Ice's friend left, Beryl asked, "Biz? What's that short for?"

 

"Business," Ice replied brusquely, as she hopped up into the bunk above Beryl's. "As in none of yours."

 

Beryl cocked an eyebrow. "Oh." Appropriate name... Ice. Beryl glanced over to Sam. "So, who's sleeping above you? I'm afraid I'm all out of guesses." But I'm hoping it's someone decidedly less 'icy', Beryl thought.